Like other parts of the commercial media sector, radio companies suffered large falls in revenue in the last 18 months due to economic factors related to the coronavirus pandemic. There are some in the commercial radio sector, which compete against one another for audience and revenue, that improvement of the ABC’s signal would reduce their listeners. Those concerned run music-based stations in Perth

ACMA is considering five options for use of the available spectrum in Perth, which were put forward in an options paper released in April. The proposal supported by the ABC and Nine involves converting its radio licence from AM to FM. It would also involve the conversion of licences for 6IX (owned by Capital Radio Network and Grant Broadcasters), and 6PR.

“It’s the only way to achieve the key public policy outcomes – putting listeners first, and making the content of the ABC and commercial broadcasters available to everyone,” Mr Malone said.

Alternatives include converting the three ABC AM services in Perth – 6PB, 6WF and 6RN – to FM and not converting the commercial AM services, and reverting the commercial AM services without the ABC. Another option is to convert one of three national ABC AM services and keep all other services on the AM bandwidth. The final option is to not covert any AM services to FM and instead allocate licences for three new FM services in Perth.

The ABC, which is at the end of a three-year indexation freeze, had said that running AM radio services is expensive. But it also said poor AM radio transmission in Western Australia - related to topography and commuter train network in Perth - made conversion the best use of spectrum.

Nine has argued that creating three new FM licences in Perth would be more harmful to the sector, diluting audience and revenue.

An ABC spokesperson said the ABC already occupies FM spectrum in other markets and it is preferred due to its quality and cost effectiveness. It would not set a precedent because there is no available FM spectrum in other capital cities, it said. The radio companies are waiting on a decision from the ACMA.

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